| This way of serving vegetables in a sweet-and-sour sauce comes from Sicily, in the south of Italy. This dish can be enjoyed on its own, as here, or served alongside grilled fish.
Season: Summer, Autumn
Type: Big dishes
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 6 at home or 12 tastes in the classroom
Fresh from the garden: basil, zucchini, onions, garlic, celery
Recipe source: Adapted from Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen Garden Cooking with Kids |
Equipment
- metric measuring spoons & cups
- chopping boards & non-slip mats
- knives, 1 small, 1 large
- slotted spoon
- large non-stick frying pan & lid
- 7 small bowls
- tea towel
- olive piper
- tongs
- wooden spoon
- serving plates
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Ingredients
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds (or pinenuts)
- 3-4 basil leaves
- 6 small zucchini
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 50 g feta
- 2 sticks celery
- 6 large green olives
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons sultanas
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup red-wine vinegar
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
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What to do
- Set out your equipment and ingredients.
Toast the sunflower seeds (or pinenuts)
- Heat the frying pan and toast the seeds (or nuts) over medium heat. When golden, scoop out with the slotted spoon and set aside.
Prepare the ingredients
- Set out the chopping boards and knives. Slice the zucchini into rounds 5 mm thick. As you prepare the following ingredients place them in small bowls and set aside. Rinse the basil leaves, dry by rolling in the tea towel, then tear into pieces.
- Peel the onion halve it from top to bottom, turn the cut side down and cut into fine half circles.
- Peel and chop the garlic.
- Crumble the feta.
- Chop the celery into 5 mm (very fine) slices.
- Use the olive piper to remove the pip from the olives. Chop the stoned olives into several pieces.
Cook the zucchini
- Heat half the remaining oil in the frying pan over medium heat. Fry the zucchini, cut side down, for about 5 minutes – the cut side should be a rich brown colour. Using the tongs fry for 2 minutes on the other side. Remove the zucchini to the dinner plate.
- Cook the other vegetables
- Add the onion and garlic to the pan and fry, stirring with the wooden spoon, until soft – add a few more drops of oil during cooking, if necessary.
- Add the tomato paste, celery and sultanas and cook gently for 5 minutes. Add the olives and stir to mix well. Return the zucchini to the pan, cut side up.
- Increase the heat. Scatter in the sugar, followed by the vinegar, and shake the pan to mix. Reduce the heat to medium. Cover and cook for a further 5 minutes. Uncover and taste for salt and pepper.
- Spoon onto the serving dishes and scatter with the toasted seeds (or nuts), feta and torn basil leaves.
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Interesting techniques used in this recipe:
- Toasting seeds
- Stoning olives
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